CINEFILER

Alexander Granach

Born
April 18, 1890
Died
March 14, 1945
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Alexander Granach (April 18, 1890 – March 14, 1945) was a popular German actor in the 1920s and 1930s who immigrated to the United States in 1938. Granach was born Jessaja Gronach in Werbowitz (Wierzbowce/Werbiwci) (Horodenka district, Austrian Galicia then, now Verbivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine), to Jewish parents and rose to theatrical prominence at the Volksbühne in Berlin. Granach entered films in 1922; among the most widely exhibited of his silent efforts was the vampire classic Nosferatu (1922), in which the actor was cast as Knock, the lunatic counterpart to Renfield, effectively a substitute name for Dracula. He co-starred in such major early German talkies as Kameradschaft (1931). The Jewish Granach fled to the Soviet Union when Hitler came to power. When the Soviet Union also proved inhospitable, he settled in Hollywood, where he made his first American film appearance as Kopalski in Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka (1939) for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Granach proved indispensable to film makers during the war years, effectively portraying both dedicated Nazis (he was Julius Streicher in The Hitler Gang, 1944) and loyal anti-fascists. Perhaps his best role was as Gestapo Inspector Alois Gruber in Fritz Lang's Hangmen Also Die! (1943). His last film appearance was in MGM's The Seventh Cross (1944), in which almost the entire supporting cast was prominent European refugees.
Known For
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
(1939)
Soldier (uncredited)
Nosferatu
(1922)
Knock
Foreign Correspondent
(1940)
Hotel Valet (uncredited)
Hangmen Also Die!
(1943)
Gestapo Insp. Alois Gruber
For Whom the Bell Tolls
(1943)
Paco
Ninotchka
(1939)
Comrade Kopalski
Mission to Moscow
(1943)
Russian Air Force Officer (uncredited)
The Seventh Cross
(1944)
Zillich
Full Filmography
Acting
Camera obscura
(1921)
Nosferatu
(1922)
Knock
Lucrezia Borgia
(1922)
ein Gefangener
Ein Weib, ein Tier, ein Diamant
(1923)
Archivar Lindhorst
Navarro the Dancer
(1923)
Clegg
Paganini
(1923)
Ferucchio
Warning Shadows
(1923)
Shadowplayer
I.N.R.I. – A Film of Humanity
(1923)
Judas Ischariot
Earth Spirit
(1923)
Schigolch
Man by the Roadside
(1923)
Shoemaker
Die Radio Heirat
(1924)
Qualen der Nacht
(1926)
Murphy
Die berühmte Frau
(1927)
Diener bei Alfredo
Svengali
(1927)
Geiger Gecko
Freie Fahrt
(1928)
Accident
(1928)
Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland
(1928)
Pollaczek
Flucht in die Fremdenlegion
(1929)
Beppo, Legionär
Pavement Butterfly
(1929)
Coco
Das letzte Fort
(1929)
Gestino
The Adjutant of the Czar
(1929)
Stranger
The Twelfth Hour
(1930)
Karsten
Danton
(1931)
Marat
A Man's a Man
(1931)
1914
(1931)
Jaurès' Friend
The Theft of the Mona Lisa
(1931)
Redner
Comradeship
(1931)
Kasper
Der Kampf
(1936)
Rovelli
Gypsies
(1936)
Danilo
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
(1939)
Soldier (uncredited)
Ninotchka
(1939)
Comrade Kopalski
Foreign Correspondent
(1940)
Hotel Valet (uncredited)
So Ends Our Night
(1941)
The Pole
A Man Betrayed
(1941)
T. Amato
Joan of Paris
(1942)
Gestapo Agent
Half Way to Shanghai
(1942)
Mr. Nikolas
Wrecking Crew
(1942)
Joe Poska
Northwest Rangers
(1942)
Pierre - Man in Casino
For Whom the Bell Tolls
(1943)
Paco
Mission to Moscow
(1943)
Russian Air Force Officer (uncredited)
Three Russian Girls
(1943)
Major Braginski
Hangmen Also Die!
(1943)
Gestapo Insp. Alois Gruber
My Buddy
(1944)
Tim Oberta
The Seventh Cross
(1944)
Zillich
Voice in the Wind
(1944)
Angelo
Nosferatu: The First Vampire
(1998)
Knock - ein Häusermakler
Data provided by TMDB